Staying Close to God Through Diligent Meditation

In light of the dictionary definition of what it means to meditate – “to focus one’s thoughts on” – and in light of the exhortation in Psalm 1 that we are to meditate on God’s Word “day and night,” we must consider how we intend to employ our minds in the pursuit of God’s Presence. 

How do we intend to keep the Word of God in the forefront of our minds as we go about the business of the day?  This is an important question for those of us who desire first to beintimate with God and then second to imitate God… because it is one thing to DESIRE God’s Presence, but it is another thing entirely to PURSUE God’s Presence.  The big difference between Moses and the rest of the Israelites was that Moses “went into the tent.” 

While everyone else was either too fearful or too focused on other things, Moses sought the face of God.  And there was a huge reward – God spoke with Moses “face to face, as a man speaks with his friend” (Exodus 33:11).  Perhaps the greatest promise in all of Scripture is found in Jeremiah 29:13 where we are told, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.”  This is a miraculous statement in light of Who is making the promise… because this is God we’re talking about.  The God of the Universe.  The God who spoke Light into darkness.  The God Who rides the chariots of the wind.  The God Who knows the stars by name.  The God Who dwells in unapproachable light.  And He has made Himself accessible to mortal men… and women.  He has said, “Come and look for Me… look for Me with all your heart and I promise you WILL find Me.” 

Where else on earth can we get a guarantee like that?  Where else are we promised a one hundred percent return on our effort and investment?  God’s Presence is the Pearl of Great Price and it is worth our time to figure out how we intend to make His Presence the grand pursuit of our earthly lives.  Moses had more than a desire for God.  He had desire backed by diligence.    

“The Lord is with you when you are with Him.  If you seek Him, He will be found by you….”(2 Chronicles 15:2).

“The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied” (Proverbs 13: 4).

“Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress” (1 Timothy 4:15).

Responsive Prayer 

Lord, it is my great desire to know You more.  It is the goal of my life to dwell in Your Presence and to be pleasing in Your sight.  But I confess to You that I am, by nature, a sluggish creature, prone to pursue what gratifies my flesh.  Oh, how I need You to enliven me by the power of Your Holy Spirit so that I might truly seek Your face.  Help me to creatively and consistently exalt Your Name and Your Word in my life and help me to be diligent in my pursuit of Your sweet Presence.  Oh, that I might be like Moses!  That I might be willing to leave the camp of this world in order to meet with You in the tent!  Oh, that I might truly be a friend to You, my Savior and my God!       

Staying Close Through the Word of God

I have often wondered what it was that made David a “man after God’s own heart,” because in my opinion such a distinction is something worth pursuing. 

Though undoubtedly many things contributed to God’s pleasure with David, I have often thought it was David’s willingness to meditate on his Creator that really set him apart.

 Unfortunately, the word meditation has been grossly misused in our hyper-spiritual, but wholly ungodly society.  To meditate on the things of God does not mean to sit cross-legged on a Yoga mat listening to the sounds of nature while smelling an aromatherapy candle. 

In fact, according to Webster’s dictionary to meditate means “to focus one’s thoughts on” and when we consider this in light of Psalm 1 where we are told that the “blessed” man meditates on God’s Word “day and night,” we begin to understand what a lofty pursuit holy meditation really is. 

According to Psalm 1, it is not God’s desire that we merely read His Word or even that we merely memorize His Word.  It is God’s desire that we meditate on His Word… and that we do it all day long, focusing the thoughts of our minds on the things of His Kingdom. 

This requires discipline and a desire to please God in all that we think.  John Piper says the following regarding the life of the mind:  “thinking under the mighty hand of God, thinking soaked in prayer, thinking carried by the Holy Spirit, thinking tethered to the Bible, thinking in pursuit of more reasons to praise and proclaim the glories of God, thinking in the service of love – such thinking is indispensable in a life of fullest praise to God.” 

Without a doubt, the ability to think is a gift, but it is a gift we must learn to use well.  As Christians, we are commanded in Scripture to love God with “all our heart, MIND, soul and strength,” and part of staying close to God is learning how to use our mind in service to our spirit.  There are literally thousands of thoughts that flood our minds on a daily basis and oh, what joy we would give our Father if even half those thoughts were of Him!

“You will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You” (Isaiah 26:3a). 

“May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer!” (Psalm 19: 14).

“…and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10: 5b). 

Responsive Prayer

Oh Gracious Heavenly Father, my Rock and my Redeemer, how I praise You for the wonders of Your love!  I thank You for creating me in Your image, allowing me the privilege of higher thought.  Help me, Lord, to employ my mind in the pursuit of Your Son.  Help me to focus my thoughts on the riches of Your Kingdom.  Help me not be captivated and consumed with thoughts of trivial things… things passing away.

Staying Close Through the Word of God

I love the writings of John because John is a scholar… and a poet.  Let me give you an example: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).  In my opinion, this is one of the most theologically rich statements in all of Scripture and at the same time, one of the most beautifully written.  It is a lofty thought indeed to consider that “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” (John 1:14).  

And it should change how we approach the study of God’s Word.  Unlike other religious writings, the Bible is not a collection of spiritual thoughts or moral instructions, though both are clearly present throughout Scripture. 

According to John 1, the Word of God is not a book at all.  The Word of God is a Person, a Person named Jesus Christ in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, a Person Who came to earth to live with us and to give us a visual picture of the heart of God, a Person Who, through His obedience unto death, opened up the Kingdom of God to paupers like you and me…  and as we come to the Word of God we come to the feet of that Person.  We should pick up the Bible not with a desire to read words, but with a desire to forge a relationship. 

What keeps us close to God as we study His Word is the fact that His Word is ALIVE.  It is breathing and working and wooing us to our Father.  God’s Word speaks.  It convicts.  It comforts.  It heals.  It wraps us up in a warm embrace.  It takes our hand and leads us in the path of life.  It whispers the way in which we should go.  God’s Word keeps us close to Him because God IS His Word and the more we know His Word, the more we know Him.  When we come to the Bible, we are holding God’s heart in our hands and that thought should cause us to gaze deeply and search diligently and fall down in wonder before this Word. 

Daily devotions are not a check in the box off our “to do” list.  Daily devotions are a Divine Invitation to meet with the Almighty Who has, in His grace, made Himself wonderfully accessible.         

“In Him (the Word) was life, and that life was the light of me” (John 1:4).

“You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life.  These are the Scriptures that testify about Me” (John 5:39).

“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

Responsive Prayer

Lord, it is more than I can fathom that You are living in my life through Your Word.  You are speaking and searching and singing to me through the pages of Scripture. Help me come to Your Word as thoughtfully and as humbly and as joyfully as I would come into Your very Presence.  Let me not take Your Word lightly, but let it burn deeply and bring me closer to You.  Open my eyes that I might see the wonder of Who You are through Your Divine Revelation and open my heart that I might understand the magnitude of what it means that You would speak to me at all.    

Staying Close Through the Word of God

All throughout Scripture God compares His Word in a variety of ways to the act of partaking food.  We are told to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8) and in another place the Psalmist says, “How sweet are Your Words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103).  Similarly, the prophet Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 15:16 “When Your Words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight.” 

Even Jesus made this comparison when He quoted Deuteronomy 8:3 saying, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). When God speaks to us through His Word, it is His desire that we “take in” that Word in much the same way we would partake of a meal.  In fact, the way in which we “eat” God’s Word says a lot about the condition of our hearts. 

When a child has had too much sugar or been indulged for too long on pizza and popcorn, that child is likely to complain when presented with a plate of fish and vegetables.  The child is liable to whine and pitch a fit and perhaps even make the assertion that he is “not hungry,” when what he really means is that he is not hungry for the food he has been given.  But let that same child go without food for a time and let the child begin to experience the sensation of real hunger and he will quickly change his tune.  Let him get hungry enough… and that previously whiny child will eat whatever is served with a ravenous kind of gratitude. 

Personally, I think this is the heart God is looking for when we approach His Word.  God has prepared for us the perfect meal and invited us to the banquet.  It is His desire to satisfy us with the richness of His Word.  The real question is:  How hungry are we?  How ravenous are our souls for God’s Truth?  If we have indulged our flesh on the world’s food, our appetites are likely to be dulled.  We may not even really “feel” hungry, but we ought not let that fool us. 

We ARE hungry and it is only God’s Word that can really satisfy the deep need of our souls.  In much the same way as the benefits of healthy food create in us a desire for more healthy food the benefits of God’s Word will awaken a desire for more of God’s Word.  When we approach the Bible, we must approach it with a ravenous kind of gratitude, chewing and savoring and swallowing deeply.  For without His Word, whether we are aware of it or not, we are literally starving to death.

“Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God” (Colossians 3: 16). 

“I open my mouth and pant, longing for Your commands” (Psalm 119: 131). 

Responsive Prayer

Lord, I am hungry for Your Word, though I know I am not hungry enough.  I come to Your written Word with ravenous gratitude, like a dog looking to the hand of its Master and I ask You to fill me with that which is good.  Let me not forget Your benefits nor shun Your banquet for lesser things.  Let me find fullness in You and You alone.  Your Word, O Lord, is flawless and it revives me.  Your Word, O Lord, is faithful and it sustains me.  Let Your Word dwell richly in me so that I might delight rightly in You.